I finished high school in 1993. Since then I have had a few jobs, some good and others not so good. Life in the real world was not working out too well for me, so now I am back in school hoping to better myself. I am in my first year of studies at UW-Stout where I plan to earn a bachelor’s degree in apparel design. This blog will chronicle my journey from neophyte sewer to master tailor and designer.

About Me

Monday, April 12, 2010

Men wear clothing too

The pants and shirt I am sewing in my apparel construction class must fit me, and I need to supply the patterns. The women in class have had no trouble finding patterns, but for the men it is not so easy. Not only do we need to find pants and shirt patterns; the patterns must meet certain requirements. The pants need a fly front and real pockets – no patch pockets. The shirt must have a collar stand and sleeve cuffs.

The local Wal-Mart carries only Simplicity patterns. The only Simplicity men’s pants pattern has patch pockets. Simplicity has a few men’s shirt patterns that meet the requirements for my class, but the shirts do not look good. They lack yokes and sleeve plackets.

The nearest fabric store with a better selection of patterns is in Eau Claire, 28 miles away from home. I found McCall’s patterns on sale for $0.99, but there are no McCall’s pants patterns that meet the requirement for my class. McCall’s offers a shirt pattern with a collar stand, yoke, cuffs, and sleeve plackets, but I have used this pattern before and I do not like it. Parts of the shirt fit very poorly. Perhaps the fault was mine, but I did not want to risk it. I bought a Kwik Sew shirt pattern and a Burda pants pattern.

I had very few options as I searched for patterns. Men’s clothing makes up a very small portion of the pattern books. McCall’s offers more patterns for menswear in the costumes section than in the men’s section. I understand that most of the people who sew are women, but surely some of them have husbands, boyfriends, fathers, and sons who wear clothing. In a few years I will be able to design my own patterns, but for now I must rely on commercial ones. Perhaps if more menswear patterns were available more men would sew.